Elder (band)

i mean who is better than this band, heavy/hard-rock-wise? good lord, they're monstrous.

I think they hit their stride on the Spires Burn / Release EP and have been on an upward spiral since then

Not to diminish their early stuff, but they've come a long way

Bought Lore, Spires Burn/Release, and Reflections of a Floating World on Bandcamp. Maybe I'll spring for the first two later.

i agree w/ calstars, there's a pretty huge leap between Dead Roots Stirring and Lore, imo ... which is more a reflection of Lore's quality than DRS

Kinda into this now

Their 2009 debut isn't chopped liver either. Yeah it's more traditional stoner/doom, but it's fun. I've been lucky enough to see Elder four times now. The first, around 2012, was the loudest. I just jammed in the earplugs and let the sub-bass massage everything down to my hair follicles. I think they go for a more balanced volume level now that they're a bit more intricate. They're touring all over Europe this summer then back in the U.S. in the fall.

No one is better at their particular style. I do kind of think of Wo Fat as their cousins in Texas with more of a swamp/blues element, and an occasional nod to Bitches Brew fusion. After not properly touring the U.S. for their entire existence (again, they're more appreciated in Europe), I'm excited to finally see them in a couple weeks.

I banged out a review late one night.

okay wow yeah these guys rip... can tell they'd be pummeling live

i've already said this upthread but their set at Psycho Las Vegas last year was literally a jaw-dropping, stupid-grin-making kind of thing. i was absolutely blown away.

These guys have me revisiting Ancestors, who I hadn't listened to in quite a while (their last album is in 2012). Apparently they're currently recording a new one.

(she sells) sanctuary

\m/

bless this album

"Thousand Hands" is fight my geration's "lonely is the word"

Watching the sunset with E. what could beat this?

Sorry for the psychedelic intrusions : )

Sorry to interrupt the hosannas, but I don't know, this seems a bit same-y to me. Now I admit I've only listened to it once so far, but I think the songs on Lore had already started to differentiate themselves a bit more after one listen. It's super-pleasant and accomplished and all, but it seems like they've foregrounded the sonic wallpaper aspects this time around in place of memorable hooks. Hopefully further listening will change my mind.

52 answers w/o a troll
Guesss that's ok

Sorry, of course everyone's entitled to their own opinion

I wouldn't call that trolling. It's a fair complaint, and when not in the proper mood, I've had similar reservations about both Lore and Reflections. Elder build fascinating sonic journeys out of riffs, shifting textures and melodic fragments, but immediately memorable hooks are scarce. Not absent - more like sneaky. Can see why some might grow bored waiting for the point to arrive.

that's funny, earlier today i was thinking about how immediate i found this record compared to its proggy psychy metal peers

this album

"blind" is the sequel to "snowblind". holy shit

Love this band! I actually interviewed Nick a few weeks ago and he was a super interesting dude.

http://clrvynt.com/elder-interview/

my god this album

I think staving off truth is the highlight

wow, there are a lot of great riffs on this. "The Falling Veil" especially.

830 or so in Blind is tops

"staving off the truth"!

yes.

I've listened to Staving Off Truth so many times I've hardly heard the rest of the album yet. When it kicks back in after the long chill part in the middle I just, like, gaze over the canyons and dwell upon my many adventures as a wandering barbarian.

Carry on then

yep that track is

Put this on my year-end list for The Wire.

At over 2200 this album is far and away in the most other collections of things I've bought on Bandcamp. The median being around 100 or less probably.

Interesting. They felt pretty small-time / undiscovered when Lore came out (and even after). 2200 is 600 more than any of my shared albums and that includes Pinegrove and Deafheaven.

Is Elder huge?

Can you guys explain what these numbers get at? College friend of mine is in the band so I always get a kick out of exploring their success.

It means that 2200+ people have paid to download their album from Bandcamp (including me).

Their later stuff is #great but their high point remains “release,” at least for me

As leaves upon the water etc

#asttheplanetsrealign etc

this fucking band, man

They're a hard working band -- I think they've crossed the country four times in the last couple years. Every show I see there's more and more people. A group of five curious friends accompanied me at the one last month, and minds were properly blown. However, they're definitely still underground, as there is a big hurdle to cross over into the more semi-mainstream success of, say, Mastodon, QOTSA or uh, Evanescence. They don't neatly fit into any genre that is fashionable right now.

A good example are the two reviewers from Overkill via BangerTV. Seeing them talk about other music, they are often fairly articulate, but they come off pretty moronic here because they just don't know what to make of Elder. They don't fit into any one convenient bucket of doom, sludge, psych or prog, so they dismiss them as it's outside of their comfort zone.
https://youtu.be/mBsTQ1_UFow?t=8m17s

They remastered their first two albums, and added demos to the first one. I've already bought two different CDs of the first album, but I gladly paid the $7 on Bandcamp for this:

https://beholdtheelder.bandcamp.com/album/elder-remastered-demos
https://beholdtheelder.bandcamp.com/album/dead-roots-stirring-remastered

For additional perspective on their sales, here's the report after their first week of sales.

http://www.metalinsider.net/columns/metal-by-numbers/metal-by-numbers-614-miss-may-i-missed-some-sales

Miss May I sold 4,425, and Eighteen Visions 3,525. I've never even heard of those bands. Elder was the 11th rock/metal entry listed with just 520 albums sold.

Nick also has a 50 track or so public playlist on Spotify.

https://open.spotify.com/user/nickdisalvo/playlist/0gUCNLoCeXP1viRN3ej68u?si=1Cn-5p_PT7WwEht451RmiA

...and it’s very mellow, very “the amazing” for lack of a better reference

I wonder how they calculate numbers for albums that sell in those numbers. It's usually very hard to find credible sales figures for classical recordings that sell even five figures. Is the album only available through Bandcamp?

"Even six figures" (Reich/Glass numbers) is what I meant.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2nTFISlOwaTdUXOtpuiXRp?si=Cb4kkLHQTvecPosVjhNpWg

i mean who is better than this band, heavy/hard-rock-wise? good lord, they're monstrous.

bless this album

this album

my god this album

this fucking band, man

LOL. QFT.

UK dates from September 30th.

delving playing here in a tiny venue next weekend, not really checked them out properly yet

https://i.ibb.co/6mSwZQD/IMG-1028.jpg

https://open.spotify.com/track/67AZNXrPU17SmpTHVh1xQP?si=F9KfgXA1Q1eTBTxrOG6wlw

I can’t believe this is 13 years old

they have a new ep out and it's gorgeous.

Is the EP all we're getting or is this in advance of a full-length?

New album in May, from Stickman:

Elder‘s new album Through Zero will be released on May 29th, 2026.

Two decades into their existence, Elder remain an anomaly in the heavy underground – a band with the ability to absorb and shed influences from a myriad of genres without falling into pastiche or losing their identity. Their new album Through Zero is a reaffirmation of a commitment to pushing boundaries and cements their status as leaders in heavy psychedelic rock.

Elder has long since mastered crushing riffs, melodic jaunts, progressive patterns, hypnotic grooves and ethereal atmospherics. Through Zero is their most immediate record to date, allowing seeds from outside the sphere of rock to take root and bloom within their progressive framework. Listeners will find new textures, sequences and sounds woven into Elder‘s endlessly bombastic take on heavy rock.

Look out for music and presale details in the coming weeks.

"sigil to ruin" might be their best opening song so far?

This new one is starting to sink in after about three listens.

shit i missed hearing about this. playing now.

sigil to ruin is 🤩

Yeah, what a great opener. The song that inspired me to make that post was the title track. The first time I listened to the full album, I was kind of non-plussed. It doesn't help that a LOT of other exciting music released the same day it did. Elder always takes a while to sink in for me. I think probably the ultimate way to listen to them is with maybe just a touch of THC and some comfy headphones and no distractions. Maybe even one song at a time with breaks between.

Elder always takes a while to sink in for me

same here but this album was still a joy to listen on first listen - was away camping and was sat on a chair eyes-shut in the morning sun, blasting it on my headphones to shake off a hangover. glorious! look forward to properly getting to know it. Am seeing them again in a couple of weeks supporting Blood Incantation

camping is an a+ way to listen to a new elder album